A great deal of merchandise is displayed for sale by means of display hooks mounted on apertured panel board. The arrangement facilitates attractive, easily changeable point-of-purchase display arrangements. On each of a plurality of merchandise display hooks, a plurality of similar items of carded or bagged merchandise are suspended, which may be removed one at a time by customers. A particularly advantageous form of such display hooks is represented by, for example, the Thalenfeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,993, owned by Trion Industries, Inc. of Garden City, N.Y.
One important function of these display hooks is to present labelling information in front of the merchandise where it may be easily read. It is necessary that the labels be readily replaceable to reflect changing goods or prices, but the support for the label must be secure and sturdy enough to withstand mishandling or mischief.
A second characteristic inherent in most forms of panel board display hook arrangements is the outward projection of a wire-like merchandise supporting element of substantial length. This structural configuration, if improperly arranged by store personnel, has a potential to cause injury, in the case of a customer who accidentally falls against the projecting wire. With increasing emphasis being placed upon product safety considerations, significant efforts have been made to improve upon the inherent safety of panel board merchandise display arrangements. One advantageous form of merchandise hook for this purpose is described and claimed in the Karmin U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,898, also owned by Trion Industries, Inc. In part, the device of the present invention represents an improvement on the general type of hook shown in the Karmin patent.
In accordance with one objective of the invention, an improved panel board merchandise display member is provided, in which a wire-like, projecting arm has novel means for the support and presentation of pricing and/or inventory information. At the outer end of the display member, there is formed or otherwise provided an information display means, in the form of mounting means, preferably a mounting plate, upon which a plate-like attachment is mounted.
In accordance with one objective of the invention, the plate-like attachment may be of extruded, advantageously somewhat rigid material, which is adapted for attachment to the merchandise display hook in a semi-permanent manner to discourage unauthorized removal and/or exchange of product information coding.
The mounting means is preferably in the form of a metal mounting plate with upper and lower mounting flanges which the plate-like attachment may tightly but slidingly engage.
In accordance with a preferred aspect of the invention, a novel and advantageous plate-like attachment is provided for mounting on the mounting plate located at the extreme end area of the display arm. Importantly, the plate-like device forms a label holder for a Universal Product Code information label, carrying product pricing and inventory information. The nature and location of the label holder is such as to place the label in a highly prominent position, out in front of the suspended merchandise, not only that of the particular display device in question, but also that of the neighboring devices, both above and to the side. The label-holding plate provides prominently displayed price and product information for the convenience of the customer. In this respect, although the Universal Product Code system is coming into increasingly widespread use, it has been, up to this time, difficult and impracticable to utilize the Universal Product Code system for inventory purposes with respect to rack-supported merchandise, as is contemplated by the present invention.
When the mounting means comprises mounting flanges, the label holder may have corresponding flanges which tightly but slidingly engage the mounting flanges. The mounting flanges may be ribbed to provide additional holding power.
The label-holding device of the present invention not only provides a convenient and highly efficient facility for utilization of the Universal Product Code, but in addition provides for improved safety in the wire hook display or rack merchandise.
The extruded form of label holder provides for a high degree of flexibility to meet customer needs and desires, while enabling the product to be marketed at low cost. In particular, the length and height of the label may be varied independently of each other and of the dimensions of the mounting plate. Thus, a standarized mounting plate may be used while the label holder may change size and shape to meet the specialized needs of each particular consumer at little expense. In view of rapidly changing advertising formats, this presents a distinct advantage over other, more limited, label displays.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment and to the accompanying drawings.